The spectre of paedophile Gert van Rooyen has not been laid to rest.
This time it is haunting the small town of Swartruggens in the North West province after a woman claimed her father was involved in the disappearance of some of Van Rooyen's victims.
Police said the woman claimed that, as an eight-year-old, she saw Van Rooyen and her father murder and bury young girls on their plot.
So police raced to the farm of Piet de Jager, 54, after this unusual tip-off from his daughter, who has not been named.
Members of the tactical intervention, explosives, dog and forensic units as well as detectives swooped on the smallholding in the Rietvallei area of Swartruggens.
A police helicopter circled the area as the police stormed the house and secured the premises.
But after two days of meticulously searching the plot no human remains were recovered.
But his daughter's tip off did mean her father had to spend Christmas in jail.
De Jager and his 26-year-old son, also Piet, were arrested on charges of being in possession of unlicensed firearms, ammunition and explosives, which were found during the search.
De Jager's legal representative, Dirk van Emminis, said there was a "mighty force" of police that searched the area for two days.
"They dug up concrete and searched the area surrounding the house. But instead of finding human remains they found ammunition and explosives," Emminis said.
Gauteng head of detectives Superintendent Andre Neethling said the police received information that there were explosives on the farm but that there appeared to be no link between De Jager and Van Rooyen or that the families ever knew each other.
Swartruggens was named after the black ridges that surround the town.
As you enter the town your first sight is the spire of the NG Kerk.
It is also one of the few towns in South Africa that still has a central telephone exchange. But, despite its peaceful appearance, dark secrets lurk behind the lace curtains.
The town was thrust into the spotlight earlier in 2008 when, in a racist killing spree, Johan Nel, 18, randomly opened fire on people living in an informal settlement called Skierlik.
With no bones being found the reason for the woman's claims remains a mystery but Neethling said there was "a situation behind the situation".
He described the family "situation" as being rife with "haat, neid en kwaadwilligheid" (hate, envy and malevolence).
Neethling said although there was no sign of bodies being buried on the small-holding, the exercise was not a waste.
"We recovered a substantial amount of explosives and, given the history of Swartruggens, we have to investigate every angle. We take this very seriously and will be digging deeper," he said.
Neethling explained that missing persons dockets on Van Rooyen's six victims were never closed until their or remains have been found.
"Every six months we look at the files to see if there had been any new developments. We also follow up every lead even though some of the information comes from very strange people," he said.
Emminis said although De Jager's actions may not have been technically legal, there was nothing sinister about them.
"De Jager works at a granite quarry and brought the explosives home to store during the December holidays," Emminis said.
Although no remains had been found Van Rooyen's infamous legacy is still haunting the families of the six missing girls.
In April 2007 massive storms that lashed the North Coast uncovered skeletal remains at Umdloti Beach.
Van Rooyen was known to have visited the area before his death, but the bones are less than ten years old and police conclude that it could not have been those of the missing girls.
A few months later there was another dead end when bones found at a construction site near Van Rooyen's former home in Pretoria turned out to be those of an animal.
Van Rooyen and his lover, Joey Haarhoff's killing spree started in August 1988.
Tracy-Lee Scott-Crossley, 14, disappeared on her way to Cresta shopping mall in Randburg.
Two months later Fiona Harvey, 12, of Pietermaritzburg, disappeared. On June 7, 1989 Joan Horn, 12, of Pretoria, disappeared.
A 16 year old Durban girl, Janet Delport, escaped the couple's clutches after she was abducted in a mall in July 1989.
On September 22, 1989, Kempton Park girls, Odette Boucher, 11, and, Anne-Mari Wapenaar, 12, went missing.
The saga, which gripped the nation's attention finally came to an end in January 1990 when their final victim escaped from their home in Capital Park.
Joan Booysen, 16, was handcuffed, drugged, indecently assaulted and locked up but managed to escape. A few days later Van Rooyen shot Haarhoff, then himself during a police chase.